Valtteri Bottas says he is “not satisfied” with third on the grid for his Mercedes debut at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.
The Finn challenged at the front throughout qualifying, but ended the session three tenths behind his team-mate and polesitter Lewis Hamilton.
He was narrowly beaten to the final front row spot by Sebastian Vettel, with Ferrari putting on a more competitive showing.
Bottas said he failed to get the perfect lap together in Q3 but is hopeful of scoring some good points in the race.
“Well third position is not ideal, I think in general I’m not happy with the result but what I’m really proud of is what the team has done with this car,” he explained.
“I only saw a small part of the preparation with the new car and new era, [so] it’s nice to see all the work has paid off and we’re fighting at the very front.
“Obviously it seems to be close this year, at least here. I didn’t get any perfect laps in so I’m not that satisfied but tomorrow is the day that matters.
“It seems like in the race starts we’ve been strong, so hopefully we can keep form like in practice and have a nice clean race and get some really nice points.”
